News

WW2 Bomb Discovered in Gateshead

12 September 2016

By Joseph

 

https://twitter.com/NPCGatesheadW/status/775013446400237568

https://twitter.com/NPCGatesheadW/status/775033765966020608

An unexploded World War 2 IED (improvised explosive device) has been unearthed in Blackhall Mill, Western Gateshead on Sunday 11th September. The manner of the discovery is unknown. Northumbria Police attended the scene on Sunday evening and bomb disposal teams from Catterick Garrison managed to safely remove the device around an hour later. It doesn’t seem as though the IED posed a significant threat to the public with a small cordon being enforced and no evacuations taking place.

It is unknown how many of the seven-decade-old WW2 bombs may still be lingering in the ground beneath our feet, and despite their age, they remain highly dangerous and unstable items. With the Luftwaffe dropping over 24,000 tons of explosive on London alone, and nearly 400 people dying in the Newcastle Blitz of 1940 and 1941, it is unsurprising that 15,000 similar items were removed from UK construction sites between 2006 and 2008.

Such devices are constantly being discovered across Europe, and particularly in Germany, including in Tyne and Wear – far from the epicentre of the formidable Luftwaffe air raids.

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